FCC votes to end local rule for TV stations

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has voted to eliminate a longstanding rule covering radio and television stations, in a move that could ultimately reshape America's media landscape, reports the Washington Post. “The regulation, which was first adopted almost 80 years ago, requires broadcasters to have a physical studio in or near the areas where they have a licence to transmit TV or radio signals. Known as the ‘main studio rule’, the regulation ensured that residents of a community could have a say in their local broadcast station's operations.” The vote by the FCC lifts that requirement. With the rise of social media, the agency said, consumers now have other ways to get in touch with their local broadcasters. “Additionally, technology allows broadcast stations to produce local news even without a nearby studio,” said FCC chairman Ajit Pai. But that same technological capability could prompt large media titans to take over small, local TV and radio stations, turning them into megaphones blasting content developed for a national audience rather than a local one, according to critics. “At a time when broadcast conglomerates like Sinclair are gobbling up more stations,” the consumer advocacy group Free Press said in a regulatory filing on the matter in July, “the Commission’s proposal would allow these conglomerates to move even more resources away from struggling communities and further centralise broadcasting facilities and staff in wealthier metropolitan areas.” Read more